Underwater ‘storms’ are eating away at the Doomsday Glacier. It could have big impacts on sea level rise

Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica, known as the Doomsday Glacier, is experiencing melting from churning underwater "storms." Jeremy Harbeck/NASA

Swirling underwater “storms” are aggressively melting the ice shelves of two vital Antarctic glaciers , with potentially “far-reaching implications” for global sea level rise, according to a recent study.

Antarctica is like a fist with a skinny thumb stuck out toward South America. Pine Island Glacier is near the base of this thumb. Thwaites — known as the Doomsday Glacier because of the devastating impact its demise would have on global sea level rise — sits next to it.

Over the past few decades, these icy giants have experienced rapid melting driven by warming ocean water, especially at the point where they rise from the seabed and come